


Untangling The Web

by katling



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Natasha Friendly, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson acts like a professional, Steve Rogers is not a jerk, Team Iron Man, let's all try not lying shall we, not in this one anyway
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-06-17 14:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15463929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: Oh! what a tangled web we weaveWhen first we practise to deceive!~ Marmion, Sir Walter ScottSo, what would happen if Steve had chosen to not lie to Tony in the wake of the events of CAWS? What if he'd actually told him the truth about the deaths of his parents? Or in other words, what if Captain America was the man we've always been told he was?We'll never know but we can have fun speculating.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic came from two directions - the first is the obvious one mentioned above. What would have happened if Steve had sucked it up and told Tony the truth from the beginning?
> 
> The second came from a comment I read about how one of the biggest flaws of CAWS is that one of its major plot points - the data dump and the helicarriers - could have been solved, partially if not completely, if they'd made one phone call. They can't claim they didn't have time since Tony's a smart man and they wouldn't have needed to spend hours briefing him. A thirty second phone call would have been enough. The fact that they didn't make that phone call and the lack of the phone call was explicitly explained in the movie was a major weak point. 
> 
> So I've also added in at the start a reason why Tony didn't do what we know he could have. I'm not sure of the actual time lines for Iron Man 3 and CAWS but for the purposes of this fic, we'll say they crossed over just a little.
> 
> Also, this is surprisingly Steve friendly for me but I don't actually hate the character and, let's face it, Chris Evans is an adorable goober of the highest order, I just intensely dislike what they've done to him in the MCU.

Fury watched with open discomfort as SHIELD’s information was dumped on the internet. He hated doing it but sometimes a ‘burn the house’ mentality was needed. And given how deeply entrenched HYDRA were in SHIELD, burning the whole lot down was unfortunately needed. Besides, he’d sent the quiet alert to Stark so he’d be ready to catch anything too disastrous before anyone got a good look at it and probably punt the HYDRA-related stuff up to the top of any search engines, just for good measure. 

He’d also put in a request for Stark to get some control over the helicarriers and it wasn’t until he saw them plummeting into the Potomac that he began to realise something had gone terribly wrong. He picked up his cell phone and dialled Stark’s number with slowly growing anger.

“Stark. What the hell are you doing?” he barked as soon as the line was picked up.

“Director Fury?” came the voice of Stark’s electronic butler, JARVIS. Fury could have sworn it sounded surprised. “Rumours of your death were greatly exaggerated, I presume.”

“What the hell is Stark playing at?” Fury demanded, ignoring the comment. “I sent him a message to get a handle on the data dump and the helicarriers and then I see nothing’s happening? Tell him to get off his high horse and get to damn work.”

JARVIS, when he replied, sounded icily annoyed. “Mr Stark is currently in the intensive care ward in a medically induced coma due to complications from the surgery to remove the arc reactor.”

Fury felt a shiver run down his spine. He’d known Stark was going in for surgery but hadn’t expected it to be too much of an issue. That was certainly the impression his agent had received.

“How long?” he demanded.

“Mr Stark has been unconscious for five days,” JARVIS said primly. “The current expectation is that he will be brought out of sedation in the next forty-eight hours to assess his condition and make a further decision regarding his ongoing treatment.”

Fury gritted his teeth. Forty-eight hours with no guarantee that Stark would be in any condition to do anything, let alone mitigate the damage the data dump was going to do.

“I have located the messages you sent and informed Ms Potts as to the situation,” JARVIS said, breaking into his thoughts. “While there is nothing we can do regarding the helicarriers, Ms Potts is willing to devote some of Sir’s resources to dealing with the data dump. She had authorised me to activate the Iron Legion to rescue those agents we can and she will seek volunteers from the various branches of SI to do the same. I have already begun filtering information as best as I can, however some of it has already been downloaded and thus deleting it will be of little use. However, I can identify who has downloaded it and send that information to you.”

It wasn’t enough but Fury knew he was going to have to accept it. Potts didn’t like SHIELD, except for Phil, and she certainly didn’t like SHIELD being anywhere near Stark. That she’d committed as much as she had probably had more to do with her belief in what Stark would want than any wish of hers to get involved.

“Yeah, thanks,” he said.

“Ms Potts would also like me to inform you that with the demise of SHIELD, Mr Stark’s consultancy contract is now null and void,” JARVIS continued. “She is willing to allow for the current work to be done gratis, due to the endangerment of the innocent SHIELD employees by Mr Rogers and Ms Romanov, but any future collaboration will fall under the normal SI consultancy agreements.”

“She can’t do that,” Fury snapped, knowing that the consultancy agreement was the only thing that was likely to keep afloat the proto-Nu!SHIELD that he planned to hand to Coulson. 

“Ms Potts has power of attorney over Mr Stark’s affairs while he is incapacitated,” JARVIS said, sounding smug. “If he wishes to countermand that order, it will have to wait until he is well again.”

Fury snarled and hung up the phone before he said something that would get all of SI’s aid pulled right now. Of all the things he hadn’t anticipated with this, it was that Stark would be legitimately and completely unavailable. His hastily concocted plan after the Winter Soldier’s attack had depended on Stark’s involvement, though he hadn’t told Rogers or Romanov that due to the prejudice against him that they’d developed that he hadn’t had time to squash. 

Now things had gone decidedly pear-shaped and he didn’t have the resources to get them back on track. Still, Rogers and Romanov weren’t completely stupid. There was going to be some sort of official response to this – since not even the blindest of government drone could ignore helicarriers dropping into the Potomac – so they’d know to be present and available and Romanov had enough training to be able to deflect attention subtly. Fury nodded to himself as he started making another phone call. They’d be able to handle it without him holding their hands.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get two chapters to start off with so we can knock over the set up for this fic. :D
> 
> So we known why Tony was unavailable during CAWS, now we see what happens afterwards with Tony and Steve.
> 
> This chapter occurs before the Senate hearing.

To say Tony Stark was not a happy camper was something of an understatement. The surgery to remove the arc reactor had gone well... initially, at least. But a post-operative infection had occurred and that, combined with an unexpected rejection of the artificial sternum, possibly triggered by the infection, had led to sedation and finally further surgery to remove the artificial sternum and re-insert the arc reactor and its moorings. The only saving grace was that JARVIS had accessed and manufactured the most recent designs so it was actually a lot better than it had been before. It still hurt though and there was the despair of believing he’d get rid of the damn thing and then having it fail.

Then to wake up and find that shit had hit the proverbial fan while he was unconscious had just been the icing on the shit sandwich. Pepper and JARVIS had done what they could – probably more than what they should have done, given how various government departments were side-eying the Iron Legion’s entry into their countries with very shaky permission – but a lot of people had died or been hurt that hadn’t had to if Fury had just kept his damn eye on the ball. How he’d failed to notice that his organisation had been infiltrated by Nazis was a question Tony really wanted answered.

Tony was trying not to get too worked up about it though, since Pepper had threatened death and mayhem if he got stressed while he was recovering. His one bout of ignoring that had led to him almost collapsing and JARVIS nearly calling in the cavalry so he was actually obeying doctor’s orders for once. Not that he wasn’t working but he was doing so from the couch instead of his office or workshop.

“Sir?” JARVIS said. “Mr Rogers and Ms Romanov are requesting entry.”

Tony scowled. “What do they want?”

“Unknown, sir,” JARVIS replied. “They have simply stated that they wish to talk to you.”

Tony sighed. “Yeah… send them up.”

There was a small pause. “Are you sure this is wise, sir?”

“Probably not,” Tony said with a small laugh. “Keep an eye on things, will you? If I get worked up Pep’s going to kill me and them.”

“Very wise, sir,” JARVIS replied. 

He then went silent as the elevator doors opened and Rogers and Romanov strode in. It was the most appropriate way to think about it since these people walking in looked cold and unfriendly, not like teammates at all. They did a double-take when they saw Tony lounging on the couch with a blanket over his legs and they both frowned in unison.

“Tony, what’s wrong?” Rogers said.

Tony might have answered that less flippantly if Rogers didn’t have a look on his face that made it seem like Tony had deliberately injured himself to inconvenience him. “Don’t you pay attention to the news? It’s been one of the top stories for weeks.” He paused. “At least until you two decided to see how high a body count you could rack up in the least amount of time.”

Rogers scowled but Tony was surprised at how unconcerned he felt at seeing that expression. There was a time when that look would have had him… not precisely backtracking but at least looking to make some sort of amends in a roundabout way. But facing his own mortality after the operation had given him a sort of clarity that he appreciated. How long it would last was another matter but he was going to ride it for all it was worth until then.

“Tony, we don’t have time for your ego,” Romanov said dismissively. “We’ve been called in front of a Senate hearing and we need you to cover for us.”

Tony stared at them incredulously then JARVIS butted in. “Sir? Please remain calm. Remember what Dr Wu said about your blood pressure.”

Tony nodded and took several deep, calming breaths. Once he was certain, JARVIS wasn’t going to trigger any alarms, he looked back at Rogers and Romanov, who were still alternating between looking impatient and annoyed.

“A, this has nothing to do with my ego,” he said calmly. “And b, I’m not going anywhere, let alone covering your asses.”

“Tony,” Rogers began reprovingly.

“No,” Tony said firmly. “Since you obviously haven’t been paying attention, I am still recovering from two bouts of open heart surgery. The first to remove the arc reactor and the second to put it back after some post-operative complications that had me in a _coma_ for the better part of a week. I am under strict doctor’s orders to rest and since I’ve already experienced some of the consequences if I don’t, I am planning on obeying for once in my life. I’ve already done my part in cleaning up your mess, now the rest is for you do deal with.”

When he finished, he saw two completely different reactions from the people in front of him. Romanov looked cold and calculating, like she was trying to work out ways to bend this to her advantage. Rogers, on the other hand, had hunched in on himself a bit and he now looked genuinely concerned. Something else seemed to cross his face then he squared his shoulders resolutely. It was an odd series of emotions and Tony had no idea what was going on with him. From the flicker of code that ran across his tablet, JARVIS had noted the differences as well.

Then Rogers surprised him. All of that faded away to be replaced by the impatient, exasperated attitude he’d been wearing when he came in. “Nat,” he said, exasperation obvious in his voice. “You’ll have to handle the Senate hearing. Sam should have the information we need.”

Natasha nodded then gave Tony a cool look before heading back towards the elevator. Only after the doors had closed did Steve reappear. It was the only way Tony could really put it – that _Rogers_ had walked in to his home but now _Steve_ was standing in front of him.

“I’m sorry, Tony,” Steve said, coming to sit down opposite Tony. “I honestly didn’t know. We’ve been… a little busy.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Tony said dryly, waving at the tablet in his lap. “Your timing was shit as well because I was unconscious for all of it. I’ve done what I could but… Steve, a lot of people have died.”

“Well, yes, HYDRA…” Steve began but he faltered when Tony shook his head.

“No, _SHIELD_ ,” Tony said slowly and clearly. “You dumped _everything_ onto the internet without any filters whatsoever. Sure, HYDRA’s shit was in that as well but that’s a smaller percentage than I think you realise. But you also dumped innocent people’s information onto the net. One of the first deaths to occur was of a _janitor_ , Steve. Some innocent schmoe who mopped the floors in the Triskelion. He and his family were assassinated the night after the data dump. Thor knows _why_ because his job title was pretty obvious but it was a professional hit nonetheless.”

He was relieved to see the genuine look of horror on Steve’s face. “But… what? That… that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

Tony sighed and ran a hand down his face. “No, it wasn’t. Fury sent a message to me so I could do something but as it turns out, _he_ wasn’t paying attention either. I was in a coma when that message arrived and neither Pepper nor JARVIS were paying attention to that particular message bank at the time since the conditions that caused the coma were unexpected and life threatening.”

He saw the way Steve jerked when he realised that Tony could have died and that _something_ that had crossed his face earlier seemed to settle in. For a moment, Steve looked conflicted then his expression cleared.

“Tony…” He stopped and swallowed hard. “I… there’s something I need to tell you but I’m not sure if now is a good time. For your health, I mean. But I’m…” 

He broke off and now he looked shame-faced and that startled the hell out of Tony.

“You’re what?” he asked.

“I’m not sure I’ll keep to my promise to tell you if I don’t do it now,” Steve admitted, looking small and almost broken.

“Okay,” Tony said slowly. “Let’s just.. go for it. JARVIS is keeping watch so he’ll handle anything that comes up.”

Steve nodded and swallowed hard. He opened his mouth but couldn’t seem to find the words. He then squared his shoulders and Tony realised that he looked like he was facing a firing squad and he very firmly braced himself. Whatever this was, it was going to be bad.

“Your parents didn’t die in a car accident,” Steve finally blurted out.

Tony frowned. “Uh, yes, they did.”

Steve shook his head. “They were murdered. By HYDRA. Using the Winter Soldier.” He gulped. “Who is Bucky Barnes.”

Tony went very still and he stared at Steve. It was obvious the man wasn’t lying. He looked utterly miserable as one might after finding out your best friend wasn’t actually dead and had been turned into a HYDRA assassin and been used to kill people you knew.

“Sir? Please calm your breathing.”

It was only when JARVIS said that that Tony realised he was breathing hard, almost panting, and his eyes were prickling. His chest was hurting too and for more reasons than his erratic breathing.

“In and out, sir. Nice and calm. In. Out. In. Out.”

Tony forced himself to follow the rhythm JARVIS was setting and felt some of the pain in his chest settle. He looked over at Steve. The man was hunched over, looking a lot like a kicked puppy, but there was also something defensive and frightened about him and Tony realised that Steve was afraid he was going to rush off and try and kill Barnes. There was also worry and helplessness in his eyes as he stared at Tony, as though he wanted to help but didn’t know how and wasn’t sure his help would even be welcome.

Tony wanted to say something but he didn’t know what to say or whether he had the breath to say it. He felt like he’d been kicked in the chest, which wasn’t a bad analogy, and his head was spinning. He barely noticed the elevator doors opening and Rhodey rushing in, not until his best friend was sitting next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He leaned into Rhodey and let himself drift as he kept himself from panicking any further. He could hear Rhodey and Steve talking but he let their words become nothing but a hum in his ears. He didn’t want to hear it again.

By the time he came back to himself, it was starting to get dark outside. Steve was nowhere to be seen and Pepper was puttering around in the kitchen. He was still clinging to Rhodey and his friend had not moved.

“Hey, Tones,” Rhodey said softly. “Back with us?”

Tony nodded and swallowed. “Where’s Steve?”

“I sent him to one of the guestrooms,” Pepper said, coming to sit next to him. She had a cup of coffee, which she held out to him without comment. He technically wasn’t supposed to be drinking coffee yet but she’d clearly decided that the comfort value of it outweighed anything else. “He looked like he’d been dragged six miles backwards over a rough road. His friend Sam is coming here too but he sent Natasha off to Washington DC.”

She was frowning but Tony gave a small nod. So Steve had seen the expression on Natasha’s face and hadn’t liked it. That was interesting. He hadn’t given Steve enough credit before for being able to recognise Natasha’s tricks. Maybe he needed to reassess that.

“He told you?”

“Yeah,” Rhodey said grimly. “Shit, Tones. We knew Stane and Carter were covering up something at the time, just not this.”

“You did?” Pepper said with surprise.

Tony nodded. “Obie and Aunt Peggy wouldn’t let me see their bodies or identify them and the coroner’s report had been done by someone from SHIELD,” he said wearily. “We thought they were covering up the fact that Dad was drunk behind the wheel. Everyone suspected it anyway but since there was no proof, SI’s share price didn’t take too bad a hit. I… we… never suspected it was anything worse than that.”

Pepper nodded in understanding. “You know Steve thinks you’re going to hurt Barnes?”

“Yeah,” Tony said. “I got that impression. He said he had to tell me now or he wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to do it later.”

“Well, at least that’s honest of him,” Pepper said with a grimace. “And he _did_ tell you.”

“I can understand it,” Rhodey admitted, though he sounded like he didn’t want to. “We forget how young he is and how much he’s lost. The man deliberately went down with the Valkyrie when he could have escaped. That was right after Barnes was thought to have died falling from the train.”

“You think it’s connected?” Pepper asked.

“Yeah,” Rhodey replied. “More than one person in the Air Force has commented, usually quietly, that it looked a hell of a lot like a suicide run from Steve, given that if he’d given his coordinates and then jumped out closer to the water, he probably could have survived the fall and the cold long enough to be rescued. Now, he suddenly gets Barnes back but it’s as a HYDRA assassin who killed Howard and Maria Stark. He’s _got_ to be reeling. I don’t care how put together he can act, he’s got to be falling apart.”

“Rhodey?” Tony said.

“Yeah, Tones?”

“Don’t let me go after Barnes.”

Rhodey rubbed his back. “Tones, in your current condition, you’d fall flat on your face before you went ten feet. But yeah, I won’t let you go after Barnes.”

Tony nodded and burrowed back into Rhodey’s arms. He let the low-voiced conversation between Pepper and Rhodey just wash over him and barely noticed when he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Tony totally let the Fury thing drop but Steve missed it entirely since he was too caught up in his internal battle regarding Bucky.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features Rhodey being a boss and exhibiting the man management skills he'd have to have as an officer in the Air Force. And Sam acts like the professional that he's supposed to be.

Rhodey walked into living room on the common floor that Tony had set up for the Avengers. He’d built apartments for them all as well but until now, none of them had ever used them. But now Steve was staying in his apartment and Sam Wilson was in the other apartment on the same floor. Both men were in the living room at the moment though. Sam was sitting on the couch reading something on his tablet and occasionally looking up to check on Steve with a worried look on his face. On his part, Steve was standing in front of the windows, staring out at the city. He looked lonely and defeated and Rhodey could understand Sam’s worry.

“Colonel Rhodes,” Sam said quietly when he realised Rhodey was in the room.

Rhodey nodded. “Sam.” He looked faintly amused. “You can call me James or Rhodes, you know? I’m off duty and you’re discharged.”

“I’ll work on that,” Sam said dryly and they exchanged brief smiles.

Rhodes came over and now Steve turned around. He looked drawn and weary. “Rhodes,” he said with a nod. “How’s Tony?”

“Physically, he’s recovering well. As for the rest…” He sighed. “If it will set your mind at ease, he’s locked down the suits and given JARVIS orders to defer to my judgement if he starts making any rash moves in regards to Barnes.”

Steve looked stricken then he sank down into an armchair and scrubbed his face with both hands. “I… yes, it does and I’m sorry. I… I hate thinking of him like that.”

“Anger is a normal part of grief,” Sam said quietly. “But at least he’s recognised that he’s angry _because_ he’s grieving.”

Steve nodded and Rhodey sat down as well. “I have authorised JARVIS to start searching for Barnes,” he said and Steve’s head shot up, a mix of worry, fear, surprise and hope written on his face.

“You have? Why?”

“Because the man deserves help,” Rhodey replied. “He’s a POW when you get down to brass tacks. I’ve informed the Army and they’re jumping up and down in a lather about that. They’ve already started lining up lawyers and psychologists and whatever else they think they’ll need.”

Steve looked stunned. “You mean they won’t… kill him or anything like that?”

Both Rhodey and Sam frowned. “What do you mean, Steve?” Sam asked carefully.

“Nat said…” Steve began and Rhodey made an irritated noise. He’d seen her arrogant, sneering effort at the Senate hearing. He and Pepper had been running around putting out the bonfires that had started and they were both thoroughly annoyed at the woman.

“I think we can safely say that Natasha Romanov’s reputation isn’t exactly deserved,” Rhodey said sourly. “Between that bullshit profile she did of Tony, her complete failure to see HYDRA right under her own nose, that asinine data dump and her disaster at the Senate hearing, the much-vaunted Black Widow is a bit of a flop.”

Steve looked like he wanted to protest but then he just look tired. “Yeah, I… I guess.” He frowned. “Why would she lie to me like that though?”

“That’s a good question,” Sam said, looking disturbed. “I don’t know her very well but…” He gave Steve a long look. “How much did SHIELD do to catch you up on the modern world?”

Steve blinked. “Um. Not much. Why?”

Sam and Rhodey exchanged glances. “JARVIS?” Rhodes said. “Are you able to access any psychological evaluations that were done on Captain Rogers and more importantly _who_ did them, if you get my drift?” He deliberately used Steve’s not entirely accurate title – that was something they’d already found in the data dump – in an effort to keep the man settled and listening.

“I believe that information could be found in the data dump,” JARVIS replied. “I shall see what I can do.”

“You think HYDRA manipulated him?” Sam said, sitting up and looking alarmed.

“It’d make sense, wouldn’t it?” Rhodey said. “And wouldn’t they have loved getting their claws into Captain America right under everyone’s noses.”

“You think they were trying to… convert me?” Steve said.

Rhodey gave him a speculative look. “Tony told me, pretty offhand since it didn’t really bother him that much, about that line you said about seeing footage of him. What was that footage exactly?”

Steve frowned. “Um. He was drunk a lot and there were a lot of… er, ladies and some men and…” He blushed then and looked awkward.

Rhodey snorted. “They threw in one or more of the sex tapes?”

Steve’s blush deepened. “Er, yes.”

“Don’t those videos have millions of hits on YouTube?” Sam said, looking amused.

Rhodey rolled his eyes. “Tony could probably give you exact numbers.” He raised an eyebrow at Steve’s slightly disapproving look. “Tony insists on three things when it comes to sex. Everyone is of age, everyone is consenting and everyone has a good time.”

Steve still looked uncomfortable. “Why…?”

“Film it?” Rhodey said and when Steve nodded, he continued. “He didn’t. They did then tried to extort money out of him. He always responded by hacking their computers, stealing the video and publishing it himself under a false identity. Thus making sure they got nothing.”

“That’s an interesting reaction,” Sam said, looking amused.

“Tony doesn’t have a lot of shame when it comes to sex,” Rhodey replied. “He’s never seen any reason. But that’s beside the point. JARVIS, can you put together a more… realistic video package for Captain Rogers?” He looked over at Steve. “Tony deserves better and so do you.”

“Colonel?” JARVIS said before anyone else could say anything. “I have located Captain Rogers’ psychological evaluation. The psychologist who performed it has indeed been identified as a HYDRA agent, which probably explains why the report indicates that a man who has been dislocated seventy years out of time is in perfect mental health.”

Rhodey looked resigned but it was Sam who was shaking his head with an angry expression.

“What?” Steve said indignantly. “I’m fine. I’m not crazy.”

“Steve… no…” Sam sighed and shook his head again. “It’s not about being crazy. Damn, I should have seen it. I’m not a psychologist myself but I have been trained to see the signs.” He looked over at Steve sympathetically. “No one thinks you’re crazy, Steve. That’s not what psychology is about these days. But you came right out of a war _and_ a war zone _and_ a very traumatic series of events. At the very least, you should probably have been diagnosed with some form of PTSD and received treatment for it.”

Sam looked over at Rhodes. “Is there someone…?”

Rhodey nodded. “I’ll contact some people in the Army. They’ll know the best people for this. Probably some of the docs they’ve tapped for Barnes.”

Steve still looked unconvinced. “I don’t know…”

“Just meet with them, okay, Steve?” Sam said. “Talk to them. Nobody’s going to judge you for seeing a therapist. They’re not going to think less of you or think that you’re crazy or need to be locked up. It’s… pretty normal for people to see therapists these days.”

“Okay,” Steve said after a few moments. “I guess I can talk to them.” He frowned a little. “Can’t you do it?”

Sam shook his head. “No, I can’t. Sorry. Not only am I not qualified for that, I’m your friend. I’m too close to everything. I mean…” He sighed. “In hindsight, I can already see things I should have picked up on with your behaviour, things that I’ve seen in some of the former soldiers I counsel, but I didn’t.”

“Oh,” Steve said. He sat down and scrubbed his face with both hands. “I feel like I’m failing Bucky. _Again_.”

“Steve, you’re not,” Sam said earnestly.

“You’re really not,” Rhodey said briskly. “No offence but JARVIS will do a better job finding him than you ever could. And when we find him, we’ll make sure you’re included in the team bringing him in. He’ll probably appreciate the friendly face and your presence will also reassure him that it’s not HYDRA who have found him.”

“Are you going to bring him here when you find him?” Sam asked. “It just that… is it fair to ask that of Tony?”

Rhodey grimaced. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. It may be that we do have to bring him here. This is probably the safest place for him, presuming that HYDRA are trying to get their hands on him again. As for Tony… well, it’s a big tower and I’m sure JARVIS will happily connive to ensure that the two don’t meet until they’re _both_ ready for that, won’t you, J?”

“I can connive with the best of them, Colonel Rhodes,” JARVIS replied. He then hesitated for a moment. “Though… I should possibly add that Sir has started some rudimentary designs for a new arm.”

Steve and Sam looked startled, even more so when Rhodey chuckled. He looked over at them and shook his head.

“Tony likes to engineer his way out of his feelings,” he explained. “If he’s moved on from designing a new suit or putting a rudimentary AI into a kitchen appliance that really doesn’t need an AI then we can safely say that he’s past the anger stage.”

“I’ve heard of stranger coping methods,” Sam said then he frowned. “Though… is that why the toaster refused to toast my frozen waffles this morning?”

Rhodey winced. “J?”

“I believe the toaster is indeed the one Sir was working on yesterday,” JARVIS replied, his amusement obvious. “I can arrange for it to be replaced…”

Sam shook his head. “No, there’s no need to do that. Just… how do I get it to toast frozen waffles?”

“You could try asking nicely, Mr Wilson,” JARVIS suggested. “Sir’s more rudimentary AIs tend to be somewhat wilful but they usually respond well to politeness.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sam said with a small, rather delighted smile.

“You also might want to explain what you wish it do with the waffles,” JARVIS continued. “All of Sir’s AIs, including myself, are learning AIs and it might simply not know what you want from it.”

Rhodey chuckled at the dumbfounded expressions on Sam and Steve’s faces. “You do get used to it after a while.”

“I’m sure,” Steve said, looking uncomfortable compared to Sam’s amused.

Rhodey noticed that and while his expression hardened for a moment, it then subsequently relaxed and he even looked a little sympathetic. “JARVIS? Do you maybe also want to put together a little something for Captain Rogers regarding the changes that have occurred in the last seventy years?”

“That’s a rather daunting task,” JARVIS replied. “Where would you like me to start?”

“Chronologically, I think,” Rhodey replied.

“I can help with that,” Sam added, giving Steve a sympathetic look. “Maybe start with the rest of the war that Steve missed and the immediate aftermath then hit the highlights of the subsequent decades. We can work through them together and if we want to delve into something in more depth, we can do that.”

Steve looked uncertain and he frowned. “I… guess.”

“I know it seems like a lot,” Sam said calmly. “And I guess it is but you don’t have to do it all in one big gulp. We can work through things at your pace.”

“And this will help?” Steve said, looking dubious.

Sam gave him a long look then nodded slowly. “Yeah, Steve. I think it’ll help a lot.”

Steve looked out the window for a moment then nodded. “Okay.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve, Rhodes, Sam and Tony realise that the time is coming to deal with Natasha. They're all really thrilled. Really.

Natasha Romanov was not happy. Steve had contacted her after the Senate hearing and asked her to chase down several leads he’d apparently dug up regarding where Barnes might be. She hadn’t really asked where and how he’d gotten those leads since she’d been looking for a reason to get out of the US. Between the innumerable angry questions being directed at her about her performance at the hearing and the repeated attempts by former SHIELD personnel to get hold of her, she’d been eager to get away.

But now, sitting in a mid-range but serviceable hotel in Kuala Lumpur, she was beginning to suspect something wasn’t quite right. While Steve had assured her that he and Sam would join her as quickly as possible, it had been six weeks since the fall of SHIELD and as far as she could tell, they were still in New York. It was also getting increasingly difficult to get hold of him. She mostly spoke to Sam and he was cool and distant, never really answering her questions and instead just giving her more leads to chase down.

She was definitely being lead down the garden path and shunted out of the way, she just didn’t know why. She’d wondered briefly if Stark was holding Steve and Sam prisoner in some way but had then scoffed and dismissed the idea. Steve was a battering ram at the best of times. If Stark was holding him prisoner, he’d go straight through the man and leave him in his wake. Which, she reflected, wouldn’t be such a bad thing if they could somehow ensure continued funding in some way. Stark was too erratic and too much of a loose cannon. It would be so much easier if they could just have his money and not him.

Though, maybe there was a chance for that. She’d been following the news from the US as best as she could and Stark still hadn’t made any public appearances since his chest surgery. The SI press releases simply stated that Stark was still recovering from the unexpected turn his surgery had taken and he would return to public life in due time. They could well be covering up something more serious. That would certainly explain why Stark wasn’t parading around in front of the media like he always did.

So if Stark was seriously ill and probably on strong medication, there was a good chance that he would be malleable, especially if she utilised some of the drugs she’d had the foresight to liberate from SHIELD’s storage before everything went to hell. If she could get in close – and she had no doubt she’d be able to do that with ease based on her past history with Stark’s security – then she could manipulate things more favourably for the Avengers, especially in the man’s will. If Stark’s illness then suddenly became more serious and he died? Well, these things happened and as long as the will stood up to scrutiny then all would be well.

With that decision made, Natasha opened up her laptop and started perusing the flight bookings for the best options back to the US.

**

“Colonel Rhodes?”

Rhodey looked up from the War Machine schematics he was looking over. “Yes, JARVIS?”

The AI’s interruption had gotten Steve and Sam’s attention as well. Rhodey had taken to coming down to the common room that the two men were using and doing his work here. Tony wasn’t ready for it yet. At least not emotionally. Physically, he was healing well and had been in contact with a couple of scientists about something that might help him. He hadn’t said anything concrete to either him or Pepper yet and Rhodey suspected that was because he didn’t know if these options were even viable so he hadn’t gotten to the ‘will Pepper and Rhodey approve’ worry. 

But coming to the common room had started out as a way of keeping Steve and Sam in the loop, showing them their concerns were being taken seriously and keeping an eye on Steve so he didn’t go haring off on a tear and cause god knows what damage. Now, though… he got along pretty well with Sam and even Steve was turning out to be better than he’d thought, especially now that he was learning more about the modern world.

In fact, when he’d arrived here tonight, Steve and Sam had been deep in a discussion about the Korean War (prompted by Steve accidentally catching a couple of episodes of MASH, according to Sam), which Rhodey had contributed to until Steve had finally called a halt, saying with a small laugh that he needed to assimilate all of that and think about it. Steve had then turned his attention to reading old Popeye and Little Orphan Annie comic strips, explaining they’d been some of his favourites when he was a kid. Sam had returned to his book and Rhodey to the latest War Machine schematics Tony had sent him.

“Ms Romanov appears to be making a booking to return to the US,” JARVIS said, drawing him out of his thoughts.

Sam immediately frowned. “The information I passed on to her should have taken her to India and China for the next few weeks.”

Rhodey and JARVIS had trawled the SHIELD data dump for more information about Romanov in light of her behaviour and had found several disturbing things. They may not have been able to convince Steve about the issue except they’d found several reports where she’d contributed tactics and strategies for ‘handling’ Steve and he’d clearly recognised some of them when he’d read the reports. His face had turned into a thundercloud when he’d realised that Natasha had been manipulating him and had turned him away from his few early, tentative attempts to integrate into the modern world.

There was no evidence that she was HYDRA but there _was_ plenty of evidence that she was more inclined to be out for herself than exhibit any loyalty to anyone if it wouldn’t work out well for her. She now had the Captain America Seal of Disapproval™ and Rhodey couldn’t say he was disappointed about that, given what had happened to Tony when the arc reactor had been poisoning him. Between the three of them, Rhodey, Sam and Steve had made the decision to keep her well away, chasing ghosts, and JARVIS had been authorised to infiltrate her laptop and cell phone to monitor what she was doing.

“My guess is she’s smelled a rat,” Rhodey said with a sigh. “Not unexpected, though I’d hoped to keep her away for a couple more weeks.”

“What do you think we should do?” Steve asked.

Rhodey frowned. “Depends what she’s coming back to do. Contact you or Sam or try and exploit the current situation with Tony.”

Steve winced. “I haven’t been telling her anything…”

“I know,” Rhodey said with a placating gesture. “She might not be _great_ at what she does but she is reasonably good at it. Tony’s been off the radar for longer than expected given what the public know about his health. Since Natasha doesn’t know you ‘fessed up about Barnes, she’s probably assuming that Tony’s health has taken a turn for the worse.”

“She wouldn’t…” Steve began, a little tentatively. He sighed at the raised eyebrow that Rhodey directed at him. “Yeah, I guess she would try to manipulate a sick man.”

Rhodey nodded then grimaced. “JARVIS? Is Tony up for talking tactics with us?”

“I’ll ask,” JARVIS replied. He was silent for a couple of minutes before continuing, “Sir is coming up now.”

Steve immediately tensed and Sam shot him an encouraging look. They waited in silence until the elevator opened and Tony walked out. He looked a lot better than last time Steve had seen him. There were still signs of his grief in the haggard lines on his face and the red in his eyes but he was walking without any problems and his breathing seemed a lot better.

“What’s going on, honeybear?” he said as he came round and nodded to Steve and Sam before sitting down.

“We have a Natasha situation,” Rhodey said and from the lack of surprise on Tony’s face, Steve and Sam knew that he’d been kept in the loop about what was going on. “She’s on her way back but she hasn’t contacted Steve or Sam.”

Tony glanced over at them for confirmation then grimaced. “So… you think she’s after me?”

“SI’s press releases have been suspiciously bland,” Rhodey replied.

“Ugh,” Tony said. “Pepper wasn’t happy about that since she felt it raised more questions than it answered but the truth is a legal minefield that we didn’t want the media getting a hold of until we could spin the message properly.”

“You could what?” Steve asked, looking baffled.

Tony looked over at him and sighed. “Intellectually, I get that Barnes was a victim…” He paused and looked over at Rhodey. “Have you told them?”

Rhodey grimaced. “No. I didn’t think it would help.”

“It probably won’t,” Tony replied, sighing and running a hand his face. “There’s a video.”

“I… I’ve seen it,” Steve said reluctantly.

“Not this one,” Tony replied. “I’ve seen the one you’ve seen. This one is…” His voice faltered and he looked away.

Rhodey picked up the thread. “HYDRA filmed it. The assassination, that it. Who knows why but… it’s a good quality video. You can see everything very, _very_ clearly. There is absolutely no doubt that the Winter Soldier killed Howard and Maria Stark.”

Steve paled and Sam shifted over to sit next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “But he…” Steve began.

“Was brainwashed. Yeah.” Tony grimaced. “Which I get. Intellectually. I’m just… having a bit more difficulty with the rest of me. I… watched the video. Despite JARVIS’ strenuous protests and repeated requests that I didn’t and let Rhodey or Pepper watch it first.”

“I always do find it _so_ entertaining to watch you collapse to the floor in need of medical assistance, _Sir_ ,” JARVIS said, the reproof and displeasure so obvious in his voice that Sam snickered almost in spite of himself and the seriousness of the issue.

Tony shot him a rueful look before replying. “Yeah, I know. I’ve already said I’m sorry for ignoring your warnings. How many more times do you need to hear it?”

“At least a few more, sir,” JARVIS replied with an audible sniff.

Tony rolled his eyes but he looked more amused than anything else. “I’m _sorry_ ,” he said pointedly. “Now, can we move on?”

“You were saying something about a legal minefield?” Sam prompted.

Tony shot him a grateful look. “Yeah. The Winter Soldier has been active for decades and his kill count is… substantial. So, there are a lot of individual governments that have arrest warrants out for him, not to mention the Interpol one.” He held up one hand to cut off Steve’s protests. “But we don’t want _that_ to be the main message that the media get hold of. We want the main message to be Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes of the United States Army, POW for seventy years.”

“We won’t be able to avoid a trial,” Rhodey said bluntly but not unkindly.

Steve looked stricken. “But he…”

“We _know_ ,” Rhodey replied, his tone gentle. “The Army and SI’s legal department are both ready for that. They will make sure that it’s not a witch hunt and that he doesn’t get steamrolled.”

“But… he was brainwashed,” Steve said, looking and sounding distressed.

“And we need to prove that in a court of law,” Tony said. “It’s the best thing for him.”

“The best case scenario, according to the psychiatrists that SI Legal have been consulting, is that the Winter Soldier is some form of trauma induced DID,” Rhodey said.

Steve frowned. “What’s DID?”

Sam had been nodding with understanding as Tony and Rhodey spoke. “Dissociative Identity Disorder. It used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder. It’s characterised by someone having two or more distinct personalities. I’ll get you some information on it.”

“And this would be... good?” Steve said, looking dubious.

“According to the psychiatrists,” Rhodey said. “Though they said that any kind of conditioning and brainwashing that they can show evidence for would be equally as good. What they really want to establish though, is why seeing _you_ enabled him to break that conditioning when nothing else did.”

Steve frowned. “We’re… friends. Brothers in many ways.”

“I know,” Rhodey replied. “But the why is still important because people _are_ going to ask why he was suddenly able to break free for _you_ but not for the thirteen _children_ he’s known to have killed, let alone for Howard Stark whom he also knew.”

Steve’s face crumpled again and Sam tightened his grip on his shoulder. “He’s right, Steve. We need to know why so that we can answer those kind of really emotive questions with actual facts.”

“This is why SI’s press releases have been subtly focusing on my recent surgeries,” Tony said, drawing their attention. “People know you’re here. You’ve been seen coming and going on your morning runs but for now, they’re assuming you’re here as a friend, helping me recover.”

“I _am_ your friend, Tony,” Steve said earnestly. He sighed and bowed his head. “I know I’m not a very good one but… I _am_ your friend.”

“I know,” Tony said. He smiled wryly when Steve’s head shot up and he gave him a look not unlike a Labrador puppy that had made a mess on the floor and then been given a treat instead of being scolded. “You told me. You didn’t want to. You even admitted that if circumstances had been different, you might not have. But in the end, you did. Might haves don’t matter. What you actually _did_ does.”

He and Rhodey exchanged rueful look, clearly trading reminisces that needed no words, reminding the other two men that they’d been friends for a very long time. 

“The PR department is working with the Army on how to handle this once we find Barnes,” Tony continued. “Barnes is, I believe, the longest serving POW in history and JARVIS and Rhodey have been working on digging out whatever they can find in the data dump about what HYDRA did to him. A lot of the HYDRA stuff is heavily encrypted even now so it’s been slow going. Hopefully Barnes will be able to give us more information or better still a location so I can raid their computer system.”

He gave Steve a lop-sided smile. “Wanna go smash up some HYDRA bases with me? I’ve heard it’s very therapeutic. Rhodey’s already in and I called Bruce and he’s coming back from India to join in as well.”

Steve laughed softly. “Yeah, I’m in.”

“Me, too,” Sam added.

“Done deal,” Tony replied then he turned the conversation back to Natasha. “So… the Black Widow?”

“How close do you want to let her get?” Rhodey asked.

Tony grimaced and one hand rose almost unconsciously to rest against his chest. “Not very, to be perfectly honest, but I’ll probably have to in order to find out what she’s up to now.”

“Do you want Sam or me to be there?” Steve asked, looking worried.

Tony opened his mouth to say no, still not entirely comfortable with Steve just yet, but he closed it again when he saw the look on Rhodey’s face. “Honeybear?”

“I think they should,” Rhodey said. “I think we should all be there.”

Tony frowned. “Why?”

Rhodey looked over at Steve. “She knows about Barnes, doesn’t she?”

“Yes,” Steve replied with a frown that matched Tony’s. “She was there when I found out.”

“What did she say when you said you were going to tell Tony?”

Steve hesitated. “I didn’t tell her I was going to do that. I suggested it and she…” His frown deepened. “Now that I think about it, she… suggested I didn’t say anything while sort of pretending to encourage me.”

“Lots of ‘well, yeah… but’ kind of statements?” Rhodey said.

Steve nodded. “Yeah, that sort of thing.”

“Negging,” Sam said.

Steve frowned. “What?”

“That’s what it’s called,” Sam replied. “It’s a form of manipulation where you use backhanded compliments or you give a compliment but immediately undermine it with something negative. In this case, it’s a way of undermining your opinion of Tony.”

Steve’s frown deepened and he looked thoughtful as he was clearly running through conversations he’d had with Natasha but then he nodded slowly. “Okay, yeah, I can see it. Why though? She’s…” He grimaced. “She’s probably more attached to the idea of the Avengers than I am so why try and tear us apart.”

“She doesn’t like me,” Tony said.

“Why not?”

Tony snorted. “No idea but she’s never liked me from the beginning. Maybe she thought spying on me was beneath her.”

“She sure as hell screwed up that ‘personality profile’ she did of you,” Rhodey said with open derision. “Textbook narcissism, my fine black ass.”

“They gave me that to read,” Steve said slowly.

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” Tony said with a weary sigh. 

“Sir?” JARVIS said. “Are you sure it’s wise to allow Ms Romanov to enter the building? You _have_ employed a large number of former SHIELD agents we rescued, many of whom are none too happy with her.”

Steve winced. He’d had his own run in with those former agents and it had not been pretty. He simply hadn’t realised – or perhaps hadn’t let himself think about – how many SHIELD agents _weren’t_ HYDRA and with Tony out of commission, many of them had died or been captured or been severely compromised before JARVIS, Ms Potts or the Iron Legion could get to them. Worse, many of their families had become targets as had completely innocent people, like SHIELD’s janitors and mess hall staff and administration people.

Stark Industries was employing everyone who wanted to stay and Steve had come face to face with a small group one morning when he’d been heading out for a jog. Their words had been as sharp and vicious as the blades they’d been concealing. They hadn’t been trying to kill him but they had wanted him to hurt as badly as they’d been hurt. They obviously knew he would heal because not a single blow had been even remotely close to lethal, just painful. Instead of going for a jog, Steve had limped back to his apartment to clean up, thankfully avoiding anyone who might have made a fuss. He suspected he deserved what he’d gotten and he’d been willing to take it, his guilt strong when he remembered how little he’d thought about possible ramifications to the plan to dump all of SHIELD’s data on the internet.

He suspected JARVIS had seen and known all. He _knew_ JARVIS hadn’t told Tony or there would have been hell to pay for those new employees. Tony might sympathise with them to a certain extent but he wouldn’t tolerate that kind of behaviour. But JARVIS hadn’t said anything and Steve suspected he’d been involved at least a little bit since there _had_ been security cameras where he’d been waylaid. Steve wasn’t resentful though. JARVIS had been more intimately involved in the clean-up of the mess Steve had caused than Tony had, since Tony had been unconscious for it. If JARVIS wanted to carry a bit of a grudge, well, Steve couldn’t really complain.

He brought his attention back to the conversation as Tony winced and said, “Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Let her come,” Steve said then swallowed as he suddenly had everyone’s attention. “Erm, I don’t know if it’ll have as much of an effect on her as it did to me but… maybe she should know just what she… _we_ … did.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed. “Steve…”

Steve held up one hand. “No, Tony. I’m not going to tell you what happened or who was involved. I’m fine and they… were justified.” He hung his head for a moment and sighed. “I don’t know what Natasha was feeling at the time but I was… angry? Betrayed? Something along those lines.”

“This why you need the therapist, Steve,” Sam said pointedly.

Steve gave him an irritated look. “I said I’d try, didn’t I?”

“Uhuh,” Sam replied. “Then why haven’t you called to make an appointment?”

“Alright, boys,” Rhodey said firmly. “You can have this discussion later. Let’s get back to Romanov.”

“Let her come,” Tony said with an air of finality. “And let whatever happens on the way to the penthouse happen. If she makes it up there, we’ll see how it goes.”

Rhodey looked deeply unhappy but then nodded. “Fine.”


End file.
